Previews

Burnout Revenge

The other new Live-centric addition is the Save and Share mode, which allows you to record your races (both offline and online), then edit them down to their best moment. Once you've got your favorite crash (or shunt, or whatever) on your Xbox 360's hard drive, you can share it with everyone else on Xbox Live. Once they get a look at it, they'll be able to rate it on some sort of coolness scale. Basically, you can think of it as "Hot or Not?" for fans of car crashes. You'll also be able to see which clips are the most popular, although we're still not really sure where all of these videos will be stored.

Given that the game's on the Xbox 360, it's not surprising that it's gotten a considerable graphical facelift. Although it's not as drastic a visual leap as many other current-gen updates, that's largely due to the fact that the Xbox and PS2 version of the game look so damned good. Still, this is one gorgeous game, thanks primarily to improved textures and a better particle engine, which results in some stunning explosions. Our favorite detail was the fact that paint will actually chip off of your car when you collide with something. Finally, "trading paint" actually means something in a racing game!

There's no denying that the Xbox 360 iteration of Burnout Revenge will be the definitive version of the game, but the jury's still out on whether or not gamers will feel like handing over their hard-earned moolah for an improved version of a game they already own. Although those 360 owners without Xbox Live won't be getting much more than a prettier version of the game, those that can take the action online have plenty of reasons to rejoice thanks to the addition of the Live Revenge mode and Save and Share. Is there anything sweeter than Revenge?